Many motor vehicles have motorized systems for opening one or more of the vehicle's side doors. These motorized systems may include features that are intended to detect obstacles in the opening path of the side doors while the side doors are being opened. However, these systems detect the obstacle by actually coming into physical contact with the obstacle. For example, a side door detects that an obstacle (e.g., another automobile, a person, etc.) is within its opening path when the side door contacts the obstacle.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide systems and methods for preventing a motor vehicle side door from coming into contact with an obstacle. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.